Natural History Wanderings

It was drizzly most of the day along Mines, but was still pretty and actually more conducive to good flower photos in this case. There were many signs of flowers and we did see spotty brodeia (sp?), poppies, fiddlenecks and quite a lot of lupine early on. At about mile 18.5 there were meadows filled with goldfields. That was the best we saw, but it certainly was colorful. We went on to about 3 miles beyond the county line sign, I think about 25 miles along the road in total. Some of the rocks and trees were beautiful as we climbed out of the meadow areas, but there were no flowers to speak of. There were many signs of things to come. Saw a few owl’s clover and Indian paintbrush, and again, signs of low-growing lupine. Looks like a couple of weeks anyway for the best displays of everything apart from the meadows.

Submitted by Alasdair McCondochie

Mines Road is outside of Livermore, CA.   It is very popular with cyclists and motorcycles as well.  Please respect the fence lines and private property.